Scammers pretending to be RCMP target Manitobans, Mounties warn

Manitoba RCMP are warning the public of a scam involving phone calls that appearto be coming from the Mounties but in fact are coming from fraudsters.

Callers are told there is a warrant out for their arrest and they can take care of it by making a bitcoin or money transfer.

RCMP said the scammers are using caller ID spoofing, which the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre describes as a way of disguising phone numbers which appear on caller ID display.

The tool allows the fraudstersto make it look like their calls arecoming from a local or familiarnumber, tricking people into answering the phone and trusting the caller.

Mountiessaid the phone number reported was a valid RCMP number but the calls obviously weren't made by police.

"We've been made aware of this incident occurring a number of times this past week in Manitoba. The scam is designed to create anxiety so that victims respond by sending money quickly in order to fix the problem," said Cpl. Julie Courchaine.

"We want to remind the public that the RCMP would never contact individuals through email or telephone to request payment or monetary transfers."

RCMP are asking people who have received similar phone calls to contact local police, or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or through its online reporting tool.